By Akindele Decker
The World Bank African Diaspora Open House held in Washington D.C. on November 29th 2007, was attended by 250 delegates from across the United States. Young Leaders - Sierra Leone Organization registered and was confirmed to attend the event, after receiving prior notification from African Tourism Organization (ATO).
African professionals poured into the World Bank’s H Building with determination and curiosity at what the World Bank had to offer for the African Diaspora. The event opened up with speeches from Obiageli Ezekwesili, Africa Regional Vice President; Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Incoming Managing Director; and Hon. Amina Salum Ali, African Union (AU) Ambassador to the United States. The Chairman of the event was Richard Cambridge, the Regional Operations Advisor and Acting Manager, Capacity Development Management Action Plan Unit.
Mrs. Ezekwesili mentioned some of the key areas that Africa, as a whole, must make priority. Some of these included transparent management of mineral resources, facilitate regional and international trade, improve the capability of public service institutions, and the effective linking of human and financial capital to the respective areas of need. She also talked about some of the activities of the World Bank towards this initiative, such as high-level seminars on remittances, the creation of instruments to enable Diaspora engagement, and a development marketplace.
The Incoming Managing Director, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, gave more substantive information on what opportunities for engagement were available as well as various avenues that needed to be tapped into. She mentioned the need to include African Americans, as they are part of the African Diaspora as defined by the AU, which is also the official definition used by the World Bank. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala also emphasized on a subject that has been quite a topic of discussion among the several Sierra Leonean forums recently, which is that of the gap of civil society in its engagement with the government. She stressed that there can be no good governance without a strong civil society. Civil society, according to her, can play many influential roles within the governing system, including examining government budgets and establishing mechanisms for accountability in the health, infrastructure, and other areas in which the public sector function.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala touched on the challenges faced by the African Diaspora. Some of these include the fact that no one will effectively develop Africa but Africans, and the negative welcoming Diaspora Africans usually meet at home, although she convincingly stated that for every negative person at home, there are ten to fifteen positive people as well. Her message to the African Diaspora group was that we have to ensure that we produce results, measure our involvement, and become Ambassadors for change in Africa.
The AU Ambassador, Hon. Amina Salum Ali, reiterated some of the points made by the two earlier speakers, and she confirmed that Africa is in the right direction. She spoke about the commitment between the AU and the World Bank through a forthcoming Memorandum of Understanding expected early 2008. She stated that the African Diaspora will be officially sanctioned the 6th region of Africa by the AU, which will strengthen its legitimacy and provide a legal platform to put forth the African Diaspora’s agenda.
Opportunities and resources for the African Diaspora
Four key elements of the World Bank’s program for the African Diaspora that were covered during the open house, included “World Bank Portfolio”, “African Diaspora Remittances Investment Fund”, “Enabling Environment & Country Ownership”, and “Knowledge Sharing”. The World Bank portfolio, as presented by Gerard Byam, Director, African Region, Quality and Knowledge Department, was very impressive.
Some interesting data retrieved from Byam’s presentation includes the facts that the World Bank is currently managing 400 projects in Africa, with health, agriculture, transport and finance being the top 4. The highest numbers of projects are those dealing with sustainable development. From fiscal year 2008 - 2010, the three high priority areas of the World Bank projects include sustainability, poverty reduction, and human development. The six lending instruments of the World Bank includes IDA credits, IDA grants, Trust Funds, Africa Catalytic Growth Fund, IBRD Loans, and Guarantees, with the Trust Funds being the bulk used. Mr. Byam also noted that the World Bank does indeed provide funding to NGOs at a very small scale, through the Development Grant Facility for start-up institutions, Development Marketplace for the competition of ideas, and the Institutional Development Fund for capacity building initiatives.
According to Marilou Uy, Sector Director, Africa Financial and Private Sector Development Department World Bank Group, remittances have a significant developmental potential. Based on the World Bank data, $9.6 billion in remittances made its way to Sub-Saharan Africa in 2006. However, she noted that many of these remittances are conducted via informal systems. She also stated that currently, international remittance transfers are costly, while in-country transfers are often inefficient.
Some of the opportunities that can be attained in the efficient use and management of Diaspora funds, includes among other things, shifting personal remittances to the financing of development projects, leveraging on national and local government interested in attracting Diaspora investment, pooling funds to achieve economies-of-scale, and utilizing remittances as an entry point to financial systems. She concluded with the way forward for the World Bank, the African Diaspora and remittances, which included supporting financial sector development policies and reforms to reduce the cost of remittances, support innovations to facilitate remittances, stocktaking on existing investment funds and developing more reliable data on remittances.
John Page, Chief Economist, Africa Region, conveyed the overview of the World Bank’s enabling environment and country ownership element. He mentioned the positive areas of focus in Africa, such as the fact that two-thirds of Africans live in countries with more than 40% growth, growth collapses in other countries has prompted learned opportunities for governments, and better institutions are being created, while more countries are taking necessary steps to avoid conflicts. He also noted the negative aspects present in Africa, which includes, among other things, low private investment due to low savings, low investments, high risks, and lack of entrepreneurship. Mr. Page added that new leadership in African countries has several similarities, such as the commitment to increased private sector investment, however some are still searching for more effective ways in the way public and private sectors work together.
One key area that Mr. Page suggested the African Diaspora engage with home countries is in Trade. Stating the harsh fact that for most African countries, the same 5 exports used decades ago are the same 5 exports used today, Page encouraged the African Diaspora to get involved in an export push to encourage more innovative export products. With the African Diaspora’s experience with global markets and understanding of trends and taste, the Diaspora can make a significant difference in trade. Mr. Page also touched on the topic of skills. He rightly noted that with the increase in economies, skills become a constraint as an adequate skills force is needed to maintain stable economies. He urged all to shift the focus from a “Brain Gain” perspective to developing “Brain Banks”. He highlighted key aspects of the Brain Bank including setting up programs for temporary returnees, satellite learning, and training workshops.
Anders Zeijlon, the Acting Director for Regional Coordination in the World Bank Institute, presented his thoughts on the World Bank’s element of Knowledge Sharing. Though a very brief presentation, Mr. Zeijlon made some very interesting points and suggestions. He emphasized the importance of demand-driven knowledge sharing and results-focused initiatives. He stated that these are some of the key reasons why China is usually identified as an example of a country that makes good use of its Diaspora. The second session ended after a very comprehensive presentation of the elements of the World Bank and the opportunities and resources available for the African Diaspora.
African Diaspora Open House Delegates
Delegates at the African Diaspora Open House originated from various countries in Africa as well as African Americans. There were some from Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, and other African nations. The overall feeling and tone of the delegates was one of excitement and curiosity. After being silent throughout the previous two sessions, an opportunity was given to the delegates for responses to all of what the World Bank had proposed. It started out with a panel of African Diaspora delegates, which included Ben Afrifa of the Ford Foundation; Rosa Whitaker, President of Whitaker & Associates; and Lisa Aubrey, Associate Professor, Arizona State University.
It was very interesting to listen to the variety of questions and responses aimed at the World Bank. One distinct observation in the responses offered was the diligence in some to quickly concede any ounce of hesitation on our part. While Whitaker and Aubrey both demonstrated their need for more emphasis on the practical aspects of the World Bank African Diaspora Program, Afrifa used the opportunity to unsuccessfully persuade the World Bank to fund his company’s African Immigrant Remittance Investment Fund. This desperate act was attestation to a demeaning comment made by one of the earlier World Bank speakers, reminding the delegates that this event was not a grant-giving event. The fact that the World Bank automatically expected desperateness from these professional African delegates, speaks volumes about the effect increasing dependence on foreign aid has on the perception that the institutions themselves carry about Africa. Although briefly diverted by the unfortunate attempt of Afrifa’s proposal to the World Bank, Whitaker and Aubrey were both highlights in their attempt to raise very uncomfortable and challenging questions for the World Bank, such as the World Bank’s conformity to code of ethics, structural adjustments and trust of the World Bank, tangible initiatives and frameworks for mobilizing Diaspora resources, and the disconnect between economic studies and the private sector. Whitaker suggested increased value added exports rather than the usual raw materials currently exported in large quantities across the continent. She also suggested the involvement of the African Diaspora in procurement activities of the World Bank.
Two very interesting suggestions from the panel was that the World Bank should open up its IFC portfolio to the African Diaspora, and also that the World Bank should push for regional reform rather than country-country reform as regional reforms are more of an incentive towards integration. In response to the African Diaspora Delegates, the World Bank representatives stated that procurement is one of the most difficult and stressful areas of the World Bank and Diasporans are discouraged to venture in this area of the World Bank. Rather, the World Bank suggested Diasporans locate local firms that are already involved in this aspect of procurement and collaborate with them, rather than face the bureaucracy of the World Bank. Another area the World Bank suggested Diasporans get involved in was the E-Consulting element of the World Bank, to which all can apply and participate in.
The question and answer session was one of the most disappointing moments of the World Bank African Diaspora Open House. A moment that should have been encouraged by the World Bank and leveraged on to acquire as much reaction and suggestions from the Diaspora as possible was unfortunately given the shortest time of all of the other programs throughout the day. Out of about twenty delegates that stood in line to ask questions or make comments, less than half of that had the opportunity to have their questions or concerns addressed appropriately. There were even instances where some questions or remarks from delegates were cut short abruptly with a meager excuse that either the questions was not appropriate enough or we needed to move quickly in order to get to lunch.
However, one of the key highlights of the African Diaspora Delegate response was a question from Mohamed Jalloh, a Sierra Leonean financial executive, residing in Maryland, USA. After identifying himself to the delegates and World Bank panel, Mr. Jalloh stated that since the late 1970s he has been an avid critique of the World Bank. He stated unwaveringly that in 1979, he had predicted that the World Bank policies would negatively impact Sierra Leone and other countries in Africa. He asked that now that the World Bank had acknowledged the fact [at this open house] that their past policies had indeed caused some damage to African countries, would the “World Bank be prepared to pay restitution for its failures in the past 30 years?”
It was obvious to all the more than 250 people in the audience that Mr. Mohamed Jalloh’s question took the World Bank Chairman of the event, Richard Cambridge and the World Bank panelists by surprise as their facial expressions seemed bewildered and anxious for immediate quality control. The intensity grew as the tone of the entire audience grew increasingly ecstatic, while an African American sitting behind me quietly uttered, “that guy got some testicular fortitude” and another seemingly offended Caucasian Lady responded quietly “but he got the wrong testicular fortitude.” As expected, the World Bank avoided answering the questions and instead, through skillful quality control, stated that the World Bank’s Board of Directors would better answer such a question at a later date. After a few more questions, this response session ended with a break for lunch and additional networking.
Though seemingly confrontational, these panelists and delegates were rightly just in their approach in my opinion. The African Diaspora’s expectations for the World Bank in this venture must not be seen to be taken lightly as it impacts the very essence of Africa’s talented and skilled human capital. These challenging questions posed by Whitaker, Aubrey, Jalloh, and others are essential in ensuring the World Bank abandon its perception of a desperate and dependent Africa, for a conscious, determined, and serious Africa and her Diaspora. This is what the African Diaspora must bring to the table if we are to have a fair and just relationship with the World Bank that is mutually beneficial to all parties involved.
Agriculture Sub-group
Though officially titled “Agriculture, Environment, Natural Resources, Community Development, Women, Youth, and Vulnerable Groups”, the sub-group was in actuality centered on the sole focus of Agricultural development. However this worked out best, because the dialogue around Agriculture was effective enough to encompass the remaining areas. The presenters included two World Bank representatives from the African Agricultural department, a representative from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and Evans Darko from Ag Forte.
Among the discussants included Ibiduni Jones of African Tourism Organization (ATO), Kunmi Oluleye of Sheba Foods, and several others working in the agricultural sector and development fields. According to the World Bank presenter, Agriculture has 3 primary functions, namely, to trigger growth, a source of livelihoods, and a way of better managing natural resources and the environment. He stated that new opportunities within the Agricultural sector in Africa included, among other things, reduced taxation and trade agreements, institutional and technological innovations, and new actors and new ways of doing business.
Some of the major challenges however, include constraints on growth, making growth pro-poor, and implementation bottlenecks. He reassured the group that the World Bank supports investment operations or projects, as well as analytical work that may evolve from the African Diaspora. Some of the Diaspora entry points mentioned by the World Bank presenter, include advocacy on US trade policy reform, collaborative research, direct private investment, remittance flows, and public accountability.
From a private sector perspective, Evans Darko of Ag Forte, a poultry production firm based in Virginia, shared the firm’s experience within the Agricultural sector and emphasized on ways in which private sector investment can impact agricultural growth. Mr. Darko gave emphasis to the connection between agriculture, health, and education. Making an argument that a well-fed populace will produce an educated populace. He also stressed on the importance of dialogue between African governments, the World Bank, and the African Diaspora.
One solution, as expressed by Mr. Darko was the need for agricultural centers of excellence that would employ satellite learning and mentorship between agricultural workers and the African Diaspora. The session continued into more discussions, with other private sector experiences, such as Kunmi Oluleye who spoke about her company Sheba Foods, and her experiences dealing with Wal-Mart and other shopping centers. She also spoke about the effectiveness in serving as an intermediary between farmers at home and wholesalers or food manufacturers abroad. The agriculture sub-group concluded with more networking amongst the delegates, which was then followed by the final conclusion of the World Bank Diaspora Open House at the evening reception.
To note: several dialogues were established between a few of the Agricultural professionals and I. Follow-ups will be sought after in the attempt to take grasp of several opportunities in getting young people in Sierra Leone involved in investing in the Agriculture sector in Sierra Leone. Based on the information and dialogue at the sub-group, it is hopeful that investment by youth in the Agricultural sector can be a sustainable move towards wealth creation among the youth population in Sierra Leone.
Conclusions
We have yet to experience the seriousness of the World Bank’s African Diaspora program. As it seems, the program is still in its theoretical stage, although some signs are hopeful in that, action may materialize sooner than later. With this first move towards engaging with the African Diaspora, the World Bank has indeed established an opportunity for dialogue, however the real measure of gravity lies in forthcoming initiatives. It is still not clear what practical steps are to be taken towards World Bank’s role in engaging the African Diaspora in the development process of Africa.
Although there are some resources already available for Diaspora engagement such as the Development Marketplace, which has been established in the UK, this and other available resources are extremely competitive and embedded into a standardized system in which selective clients may already have the exclusive key to accessing the World Bank’s resources. Additional substantiation is needed from the World Bank through more such dialogue with the African Diaspora in order to convince those with doubts and skepticism that this initiative of the World Bank is truly genuine and beneficial.
Although there is much responsibility in the hands of the World Bank in regard to proving their case worthy to the African Diaspora, the African Diaspora also carries the responsibility of taking heed to these World Bank proposals with less accepting responses and more exploratory measures prior to formulating conclusions or decisions in accepting or refusing the World Bank’s proposal(s).
As evident at the World Bank African Diaspora Open House, although the African Diaspora delegates were extremely effective in engaging in dialogue and networking among ourselves, we did not cease the opportunity to be more assertive towards World Bank officials in respect to past ineffective policies and the World Bank’s track record of governance and exploitation in Africa.
In my view, in order to move forward to a stage where partnership and collaboration between the African Diaspora and the World Bank is to be institutionalized, the African Diaspora with its high esteem and experience with the West must ensure that the rights, equity, and resources of Africa are protected, respected, and treated justly by the World Bank. The African Diaspora must also not place complete reliability on the return rate of the World Bank’s Diaspora program. We have to be more enlightened to utilize the open content resources that the World Bank has available, without total dependence on the World Bank for making reference to these resources when developing citizen-managed initiatives for development.
In my view, Sierra Leone can achieve the goals of the World Bank’s African Diaspora program through the collective efforts of Sierra Leoneans themselves. Initiatives very similar to those proposed by the World Bank have already been developed. The equivalence of the World Bank’s Investment Fund and Remittance program matches up with our very Sierra Leone Investment Fund concepts and Dollar-A-Day (DAD). The very concept of engaging the African Diaspora in Africa’s development has been ongoing and in practice within the Sierra Leone community for the past few years, with more intensity the past two years.
The three areas which we lack strength, in my view, includes empowerment, organization, and rewards. We as individuals are not empowered enough to take full control of our fate as a nation. We find ourselves creating state-of-the-art initiatives however we fall short of implementation, because we lack empowerment and self-confidence in the success of what we have set out to achieve. Becoming fully confident in our abilities to manage and operate with the same effectiveness, World Bank program types, equipped with the vast knowledge and skills embedded in our human and social capital, is all the empowerment that we need.
In addition to empowerment, we as a Diaspora community needs to be organized into a functional and connected unit, operating efficiently according to standardized ethics, functions, and accountability mechanisms. The Council of Representatives (CORE) is an excellent way forward in regard to organizing the Sierra Leone Diaspora, and the annual Sierra Leone Youth Empowerment Conference (SLYEC) can be a very effective tool in organizing the Sierra Leone youth in the Diaspora as it also leverages on the inter-generational corporation from all segments of society.
As emphasized by World Bank Incoming Managing Director, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, African Americans must be inclusive of the African Diaspora as defined by the African Union. Ghana has been an exemplifier of her engagement with African Americans through its heritage tourism and historical sites. As we continue to learn from both the Sierra Leone Gullah Heritage Association (SLGHA) and www. VisitSierraLeone .org, Sierra Leone has the capacity to match the Tourism industry of Ghana and possibly even surpass it. Through the Gullah communities of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, as well as data results from the African Ancestry’s DNA program, Sierra Leone lays claim to the ancestry of more African Americans than most people can begin to imagine.
In measuring Sierra Leone’s human and social capital in the Diaspora, one begins to understand the essence of a ‘brain bank’ as we carry vast talents and skills among our very professional and skilled Diaspora. Organizing these many facets of the Sierra Leone Diaspora into a fully functional unit serving several functions and targeting all segments in society, we can only imagine the wealth of results that we as a nation will experience once this phenomenon occur. Lastly, a third necessity we, the Sierra Leone Diaspora need in order to move forward effectively, is a system of rewards.
In my opinion, it is counter-productive for World Bank workers to gain financial and career rewards for implementing the exact programs that we Sierra Leoneans would implement for the sake of country. Some of us can argue that a citizen, particularly in the case of Sierra Leone, which is at the bottom of UNDP’s HDI table, should be willing to develop initiatives, manage them and implement them, for free, and for the mere sake of patriotism. Although this may be the ideal approach, realistically, it is one that results in little or no productivity, at least in our case.
One solution can be institutionalizing the rewards one receives from contributing his/her skills and talents towards the development, operation, or implementation of any initiatives towards development in Sierra Leone. The rewards received however, does not have to be financial, though it must be of value to the individual(s) receiving it so that all, whether encouraged by patriotism or not, can be equally productive due to an incentive rewarding system. Rewards to one individual can be in the form of nationally acknowledged awards, career development, experience, financial/income, profit, or even the sense of satisfaction from experiencing justice and content from providing aid and support to a struggling Sierra Leonean.
Whichever way it is setup, realistically, and in order to compete with the ever-growing influence and capacity of the World Bank over the way we govern ourselves, we need to establish a reward system, so that we can formally refer to ourselves as nation-builders and workers for Sierra Leone’s development. The future seems promising, as more recognition and opportunities have emerged for the Diaspora’s engagement with home-countries. The task is on the shoulders of the Diaspora, whether we will take advantage of these opportunities and leverage on them for the benefit of our nations according to our measures and not those designed to benefit all others with the exception of the beneficiaries themselves. There is one fundamental principle that I can say I respectfully share with World Bank’s Incoming Managing Director, Dr. Ngozi, Okonjo-Iweala, in that no one will develop Africa but Africans, so we must begin the process of taking Africa back.
About the Author:
Akindele Decker is currently studying Global Business and Public Policy. He is also the Web Developer for African Tourism Organization (ATO). He serves as the Secretary- General for the Sierra Leone Network (SLN) and the Sierra Leone Gullah Heritage Association (SLGHA). Akindele was co-chair of the steering committees for the 2006 Youth-Led National Development Conference in Freetown, Sierra Leone and the 2007 Sierra Leone Youth Empowerment Conference in Maryland, USA. In April 2006, Akindele attended the “Youth and the New Pan-African Renaissance: Re-building Africa for the 21st Century” at Harvard University. He has given presentations on youth investment at the Freetown Solid Waste Management Company Online Consultation, and the 2007 Sierra Leone Network Voter Education Webinar. In November 2007, Akindele was selected to participate in the inaugural World Bank Diaspora Open House in Washington D.C. He holds the position as Vice President of Young Leaders - Sierra Leone and Chairman of its USA Branch. Akindele is an aspiring writer and an avid advocate for social and economic justice.
About Young Leaders-Sierra Leone:
Young Leaders - Sierra Leone is a Non-partisan, Non-governmental, and Non-profit youth organization registered with the Government of Sierra Leone under the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. Young Leaders is dedicated to its mission of creating a platform for young Sierra Leoneans at home and in the Diaspora, in which unity, positivism, and nationalism is exercised through dialogue, development, education, advocacy, and networking. Members form various committees based on issues/areas where crucial needs have been identified in Sierra Leone and where members have individual interests. All 3 Branch in Sierra Leone, USA, and the UK currently has committees on: Business and Economics; Education; Health; Public Policy; Technology; and Women’s Affairs. Some of the current and forthcoming initiatives of Young Leaders include the Sierra Leone Youth Portal, National Youth Helpline, Community Youth Empowerment Center, 2008 Sierra Leone Youth Empowerment Conference (SLYEC), 2008 Youth-Led National Development Conference, Advocacy Public Affairs (APA) programs and other initiatives. For more information about the organization and our programs, please visit our main website at www.youngleaders-sierraleone.org and our USA Branch website at www.ylsl-usabranch.org
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